One of my favorite teachers in high school, Michael Freeborn, became a friend of mine once I graduated high school. As time went on we ended up being able to become colleagues. One day on the golf course he was asking me about this girl I went to high school with named, Kate Jette. Never heard of her. He told me about her and I could tell he was being a little more pushy about it than he normally would be if he were just talking about someone from school. After a couple of months, and a couple more rounds of golf I asked him to pull her photo back up. With all of his excitement I had to trust him. He and his wife Laura set up a little backyard shindig so Kate and I could meet. They said it was a chocolate and wine night, which are two things I am not a huge fan of, so I walked in late with a six pack of my favorite IPA. I said hi to everyone there realizing the shirt I had chosen was my history nerd shirt about the Boston Tea Party. Kate had a 3-4 month old dog attached to her chair that I had to say hi to. She said his name was Rudy, and I said, “oh like Rudy Ruettiger”. She said that was exactly the person he was named after. I figured having shown up late and bringing beer to a wine party was a negative off the bat, but getting the Rudy point evened things out. There were more people there than I had expected so finding isolated Kate time was hard. I tried though, but she let Rudy off leash and after her spending ten minutes trying to herd Rudy back to his leash little did I know how drawn to Kate I really was. After the night had ended with me being so nervous and drinking the six beers I brought not being able to really muster up conversation I needed to ask Kate out. I was able to get her number from Laura and ask Kate out. After days of silence she told me her inbox was full or her texts went to some other place in her phone. After being ghosted for what felt like a year, we finally set out for our first date at Stickmen Brewery in Lake Oswego (R.I.P.). Kate, myself, and Rudy ended up having a six hour date where we talked the entire night while Rudy tried to pull the entire patio into the lake. When they closed we went back to Kate’s house where all she had was wine. I stumbled away at 2am thinking this girl is the real deal. Almost four years later I am sitting on our coach, in our home, next to our dog Rudy writing about how I first met his mom. Kate and I are not opposites, but we are not the same either. I adore that about her and us. I cannot be happier that on August 3, 2024 Kate and I will be married by Michael Freeborn where everything will come full circle.

Corey and my story goes back... like... way back. But before we get to that, let's talk about how Corey and I met. In high school, I had a favorite teacher, Laura. She was one of my inspirations to go into the teaching profession and we kept in touch for many years after graduation. During the pandemic summer of 2020, I was at her house for a catch up time and she asked me if I remembered a guy that I went to high school with named Corey Davis. I remembered that he was older than me and that he had hit a home run to win the state title for baseball for our high school, but that was about it. I didn't know him or what he looked like. She planted the seed for introducing us and that was that. A few months later, I was invited over to her house for a wine and chocolate night, and that turned out to be one of the best nights of my life. Corey walked into the backyard wearing a t-shirt that said, "Spilling the tea since 1773," and I knew I was hooked. We started talking and texting and went on our first date at Stickmen Brewery in less than a week. We found out that we had so much in common, such as being college athletes, high school teachers, coaching sports, and even having gone to the same elementary school! We went on our second date a couple of days later, and the rest is history! After nearly three years of dating, we got engaged next to Lake Oswego right down the street from where our first date was. It was perfect. I am so excited to marry Corey Davis and can't wait for the best day ever!